As a former BA employee on the "11 month temp" contract, I have been following this thread/debate with interest. I finished my contract almost 2 months ago and since then have had a few interviews for other (lowcost) airlines, but i'm still unemployed. As much as I want to get back into full time employment, preferably with another full service, long haul, airline, as quickly as possible. I am tempted to sit back and wait and see what happens with BA (god knows how long i'll be waiting tho.....!)
I'm intrigued to see what this 'new fleet' will be. I'm fed up of all the rumours and hatred flying around over it, particularly over at the BASSA forum (scab fleet etc....) when nobody actually knows what it will ultimately entail. Yes, i know people keep saying it will run to scheme, minimum rest etc, but lets wait and see something in writing ok.
Yes, I did join BASSA during my time, however, if I went back to BA I think I could probably put my £15 a month to better use. They certainly don't wish to look after the majority of the crew (I also find it laughable that the head of the union commutes from LA, if that's not a sign that certain crew are over paid I don't know what is....). Having worked for BA, i find that BASSA just like to send out random flyers every now and then that don't really tell you anything and are just designed to hype people up into a frenzy! They are just as bad, if not worse than, the BA management! I'm all for protecting the current T&C's but the way that BASSA go about things, acting as if they run the airline and failing to negotiate anything, I will not be surprised at all if Willie and Bill get there way.
Whatever the future holds for those of us back in the 'hold pool'/ex temps etc, I for one will be jumping at the chance to get back in with BA if offered a contract in the near (?) future because I want to work for BA, if I don't like it, i'll leave. In my opinion, the problem lies within the crew who have worked for BA for years and years, have no idea what life is like outside their little bubble and don't seem to understand what wages the rest of the working world earns. I can see exactly why the management want changes to be made and I do agree with a lot of them (not all...), I'm not sure that most BA Crew realise just how good they have it. Before I joined BA, I was earning half the money and doing twice the hours and had a lot more responsibility and work commitments. Joining BA was like going on one long holiday!